We take great pride in pointing out when those charming elected officials in our Nation's Capitol spend millions of our dollars and don't tell us what it's for or against.

You know, like those good old-fashioned pork-barrel projects the elder statesmen of their honorable states get approved - covered up nicely by red tape until it's discovered years, or a generation, later - and guess who ends up covering the tab? That's right, us and our children and grandchildren.

We don't know if the following belongs under pork-barrel projects, but somebody sure needs to roll out a barrel or two to get the attention of our federal government.

According to an Associated Press article last week, the director of the National Hurricane Center reported the agency is struggling under the current fiscal year's budget cuts while the feds are tossing millions of dollars down the drain trumpeting the 200th anniversary of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

In other words, the NOAA is spending $4 million on a publicity campaign for the anniversary celebration, the head of the hurricane center said. (The hurricane center, by the way, is a part of the National Weather Service, which is a NOAA agency.) Bill Proenza, meanwhile, said the hurricane center has had to cut $700,000 from hurricane research.

"No question about it, it is not justified. It is using appropriated funds for self-promotion," he said in a phone interview Thursday while attending the Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale.

Proenza has been critical of the NOAA since taking over the post in January. He said millions of dollars in new funding is needed for expanded research and storm forecasting. One immediate concern is the "QuikScat" weather satellite that lets forecasters measure such basics as wind speed and direction. Proenza said the satellite could fail anytime, degrading storm prediction capabilities, and there are no plans to replace it.

NOAA spokesman Anson Franklin told the AP the agency is only spending about $1.5 million on the campaign over two years. (Oh well, that's different, right?) He said it was justified to publicize the agency's mission to a public often unaware of its involvement in weather prediction and forecasting.

"It's part of our responsibility to tell the American people what we do," Franklin said. "It's inaccurate and unfair to just characterize this as some sort of self-celebration."

Franklin said NOAA is considering several options if the satellite fails, including outfitting other satellites with similar technology. Overall, he said, NOAA spends $300 million of its $4 billion annual budget on hurricane forecasting and research.

This year's hurricane season begins June 1, and forecasters are predicting it will be busy. The hurricane center issues the watches, warnings and forecasts as potentially hazardous tropical storms form. If any agency or organization in this country is going to need $4 million - besides those in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast trying to rebuild that region after the government's dismal failures of 2005 - it would be the hurricane center.

Somebody in Washington, D.C., please, get a clue. We don't care if you have to buy a vowel first. Just do something about this stuff. People in the Gulf Coast are still waiting on FEMA, so why will we be surprised when nothing happens?